What is the difference between an umbrella and an excess policy?

Broadly, an excess policy sits above the underlying limits on the same terms, while an umbrella can also cover some things the underlying excludes. In practice carriers use the names loosely, so read the form.

Can the certificate say the umbrella is primary and non-contributory?

Only if the policy says it. A certificate reports the policy and cannot add terms. If the umbrella has no such wording, the fix is an endorsement or a different umbrella.

Can you check the insurance requirements in my contract?

Yes. Paste the insurance section into our free Contract Insurance Decoder and it names the endorsement behind each clause, flags the ones that are often missing, and prints a checklist, without the text leaving your browser. Send that with your current policy and a licensed agent compares them line by line, usually the same business day.

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Does my umbrella have to follow form, cover the GC as additional insured and be primary and non-contributory?

If the contract says so, yes, and none of the three is automatic. Many umbrellas treat anyone insured on the underlying policy as an insured, but the ISO umbrella form says it is excess over and does not contribute with other insurance, so primary and non-contributory on an umbrella takes specific wording that varies by carrier. "Follow form" means the umbrella takes the terms of the policies beneath it rather than its own.

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The forms, side by side

Form	What it does	Blanket or scheduled	Carrier availability	What to ask your agent	Common trap
Follow form	Umbrella takes the underlying policy’s terms	Policy wording	Varies by carrier	Is this umbrella follow form, and over which policies?	An umbrella over general liability only when the contract wants auto and employer’s liability beneath it
Umbrella "who is an insured"	Usually includes anyone insured on the underlying policy	Usually blanket	Common; varies by carrier	Does the umbrella pick up our additional insureds?	An umbrella that limits additional insureds to the contract’s required limit
Umbrella primary wording	Makes the umbrella respond before the general contractor’s own excess	Policy wording or endorsement	Varies by carrier	Send us the umbrella’s other insurance wording	Asserted on the certificate, absent from the policy

Follow form
What it does
Umbrella takes the underlying policy’s terms
Blanket or scheduled
Policy wording
Carrier availability
Varies by carrier
What to ask your agent
Is this umbrella follow form, and over which policies?
Common trap
An umbrella over general liability only when the contract wants auto and employer’s liability beneath it
Umbrella "who is an insured"
What it does
Usually includes anyone insured on the underlying policy
Blanket or scheduled
Usually blanket
Carrier availability
Common; varies by carrier
What to ask your agent
Does the umbrella pick up our additional insureds?
Common trap
An umbrella that limits additional insureds to the contract’s required limit
Umbrella primary wording
What it does
Makes the umbrella respond before the general contractor’s own excess
Blanket or scheduled
Policy wording or endorsement
Carrier availability
Varies by carrier
What to ask your agent
Send us the umbrella’s other insurance wording
Common trap
Asserted on the certificate, absent from the policy

The detail

The ISO umbrella other insurance condition states that the insurance "is excess over, and shall not contribute with any of the other insurance, whether primary, excess, contingent or on any other basis."
ISO endorsements reproduced in Risk & Insurance Education Alliance, "Certificates of Insurance and Additional Insureds" course materials (2019)
Non-standard umbrella wording exists that makes the umbrella primary and non-contributory where a written contract requires it, so whether an umbrella does this depends on the carrier’s form.
ISO endorsements reproduced in Risk & Insurance Education Alliance, "Certificates of Insurance and Additional Insureds" course materials (2019)
CG 20 01 12 19 makes general liability primary and non-contributory only where the additional insured is a named insured on its own policy and a written contract requires it.
ISO endorsements reproduced in Risk & Insurance Education Alliance, "Certificates of Insurance and Additional Insureds" course materials (2019)

What this means for you

Ask for the wording, not a yes. Umbrella terms are carrier forms. The answer to "does it do this" is a paragraph in the policy, and your agent should send it.
Check what sits underneath. A contract requiring $5,000,000 umbrella usually means over general liability, auto and employer’s liability together. An umbrella scheduled over one of them does not meet it.
Limits are often the real obstacle. A small subcontractor bidding a large job usually struggles with the umbrella amount, not the endorsements. That is a placement question, and it is solvable before the bid.

Go deeper on any of these

Need this handled?

Reading about it and having it handled are different jobs, and the second one is ours. We place the accounts other brokers decline — claims history, a cancellation, an unusual operation, a business nobody wants to underwrite twice — and we will tell you when the policy you already have is the right one. Tell us the situation and a licensed human replies the same business day.